R U [ I ] N E D

Three Tree and Several Hours Ago

Under his breath, Brady hissed, "Slavedriver!" but neither Callan nor Phoena heard another word of protest from him after that. The group continued onto their destination in silent determination.

***

During their trek, heavy storm clouds had rolled in, dimming out the sunlight and threatening a downpour at any second. At first, they barely noticed the fine mist of a drizzle that clung to their skin, but before long, the drops began growing larger, though they fell slowly as if waiting. The hush on the air between the plop of each falling drop-- it was like something halted each raindrop in its tracks before sending it cascading down to the trodden leaves cluttering the forest floor. The group huddled closer together but kept trudging along. It wouldn't bode well for any of them to be caught outside during a violent thunderstorm, which was-- if the skies were any indicator-- exactly what this was turning out to be. Brady narrowed his eyes at their surroundings before giving a sharp tug on Phoena's cloak.

She skidded to a stop, forcing Callan and Sachi to do the same behind her. "What is it?" Her voice was low as she turned back, but the tension was palpable. She must have sensed that something wasn't quite right as well.

"At first, things were moving pretty smoothly, but I'm not so sure anymore." He moved to the edge of the path and gestured toward one of the trees there. "Seem familiar to you? Because it does to me. I'm pretty sure we've passed this same tree three times." Plucking a tiny piece of string from the lowest hanging branch, Brady added, "Left this after the second time."

"We haven't turned enough times to be walking in circles." Phoena grimaced, cupping her forehead in her hands. It was all she could do to keep from screaming in frustration. Luckily, she was rather practiced at keeping outwardly poised. "How long ago did this start?"

Brady tipped his head in consideration, crumpling up the string in his hands. "Maybe an hour at most...? I'm sorry. I couldn't be sure until we passed again."

The blonde sighed but shook her head readily. "No one's blaming you. Let's just try to stay out of the rain while we figure this out." She waved Callan and Sachi closer so that they could all use the tree cover as a buffer from the elements.

"Isn't it obvious?" Callan flung water droplets free from his hair as he shook his head and repeated the same process for his cloak. He lifted a brow at the silence and hung his cloak over his arm. "Something nearby must be warded, and I have a pretty good guess as to what." Cal lifted his head toward the sky, eyes settling on the dark clouds gathered there. "We don't usually get sudden storms like this in our forests, but once you get near the coast, it's pretty commonplace."

Sachi nodded in agreement. "It felt like it was always raining in Mystaire... Even after beautiful sunny days, the town would get drenched out of nowhere."

"Something that someone doesn't want found..." Cal lowered his gaze again, shrugging. "Considering what we known about this girl's past, don't you think she'd be a bit wary of outsiders? Her home was destroyed. What better motivation would she need to protect this new one?"

Phoena's eyes widened as realization struck her. "Not to mention a trained sorceress shouldn't have much trouble creating a loop like this..."

"Then we just need to find a way to break it!" Brady piped in, but the others didn't return his unyielding optimism.

"Easier said than done..." Callan rubbed the back of his neck and peered at the floor. "If we had another sorcerer with us, sure, but doing this without magic is going to be a real pain."

Brady leaned back against the tree that had brought them to this little realization in the first place. "Difficult, yes, but not impossible. Look on the bright side for once! I mean, really. Do you know how depressing it is inside your head?"

"Not depressing enough for you to stay out apparently."

"Call it a morbid curiosity," Brady fired back with a wink.

Phoena shot her hand out and grabbed Brady by the collar, tugging it fiercely as she shot a glare over at Callan. "Stop it, both of you. Unless you've forgotten about the impressionable child you insisted on bringing along?" Both Brady and Callan turned slowly to Sachi, who looked away with an uncomfortable laugh.

Cal cleared his throat, as if to end discussion on the subject. "You probably should ignore most of what comes out of Brady's mouth," he advised, carefully draping his cloak over Sachi's shoulders. It'd be better to keep the young boy dry when the rain started to come down harder. Callan would be able to manage without it until they found shelter. "Back to more important matters..."

"Right," Phoena nodded sharply, "Getting out of this trap."

Brady gave a mock-pout as they discussed. "We're just going to ignore him taunting me. Okay. Fine, fine. Whatever," he grumbled to himself. He glanced over at Callan expectantly. "Well then?"

Cal simply blinked at him. "What?"

"Your plan, Your Princeliness?" The telepath dropped into a deep bow, his grin spread from ear to ear.

Callan scoffed, "That isn't any better than Sir Prince."

"No?" Brady furrowed his brows like he was thinking deeply about this, "Is that so?"

Blowing a puff of air from his nose, Callan brushed off the mockery. "What we need to do is find a chip in the cycle. If we do that, we can use it to break the illusion. We're looking for something that doesn't fit. Split up, shout if you find something." After giving his instructions, he guided Sachi along by the boy's shoulder. "You'll stick with me for now." With that, Cal's plan was set into motion, each of the Runeholders heading off in separate directions to search for the chink in this armor.

A/N: I swear on my life that Soleil will be introduced in the next chapter. Working my way there just took more time than expected... Get pumped for our fourth Runeholder! *throws confetti and streamers in celebration* I'll just leave that for the charries to pick up, it's fineee!! >.> <.<

Vale! (and other assorted Latin well wishes that I've studied for no really legitimate reason)... ~Rissa